Department of Psychology, Bielefeld University, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany.
University Clinic for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Protestant Hospital Bethel, University Clinics OWL, 33617 Bielefeld, Germany.
Sensors (Basel). 2023 Jan 14;23(2):966. doi: 10.3390/s23020966.
Heart rate variability has been found to be related to emotional processing and emotional responses. Studies that investigated these relationships were mostly lab-based or cross-sectional. Only limited research used intensive longitudinal data, in particular investigating within-individual processes in real-life settings. This study addresses the applicability of ambulatory-assessed electrocardiograms in combination with the experience sampling methodology by investigating the associations of various HRV measures with affective states on within- and between-individual levels. A total of 26 participants aged 18-29 years (23 females) wore electrocardiograms continuously for seven days. The participants received seven prompts per day and answered questions about their affective wellbeing. The heart rate and heart rate variability measures differed between body positions and activity classes. The heart rate and ratio of low-to-high-frequency heart rate variability were consistently associated with positive affect on a within-individual (state-like) level. These associations were mainly driven by the items of feeling "enthusiastic" and "happy". No associations were found with negative affect. Overall, we found evidence that the dominance of the sympathetic nervous system over the parasympathetic nervous system was associated with higher levels of positive affect on a within-individual (state-like) level. Suggestions for the application of ambulatory electrocardiogram assessment in the study of the association between autonomous nervous system activity and ecological momentary assessment-based variables are discussed.
心率变异性已被发现与情绪处理和情绪反应有关。研究这些关系的大多是基于实验室或横断面的研究。只有有限的研究使用了密集的纵向数据，特别是在现实生活环境中调查个体内的过程。本研究通过调查各种心率变异性测量值与个体内和个体间水平的情感状态之间的关联，解决了动态心电图评估与经验抽样方法相结合的适用性问题。共有 26 名年龄在 18-29 岁的参与者（23 名女性）连续 7 天佩戴心电图仪。参与者每天收到 7 次提示，并回答有关其情感健康的问题。心率和心率变异性测量值在身体姿势和活动类别之间存在差异。心率和低到高频心率变异性的比值与个体内（状态样）水平的积极情绪始终相关。这些关联主要由“热情”和“快乐”这两个项目驱动。与消极情绪没有关联。总体而言，我们有证据表明，交感神经系统对副交感神经系统的支配与个体内（状态样）水平的积极情绪水平较高有关。讨论了在自主神经系统活动与基于生态瞬间评估的变量之间的关联研究中应用动态心电图评估的建议。
